Sales of frozen foodstuff have risen dramatically in recent years. In particular, ice cream and yogurt product in the form of pellets have become very popular.
One method of forming the pellets involves delivering flavored liquid dairy composition to a feed tray and then dripping the composition into a freezing chamber. The feed tray includes a sieve plate having orifices formed therein. The liquid dairy composition passes through the sieve plate and forms pellets that fall into the freezing chamber. The falling pellets of liquid compositions freeze rapidly in the freezing chamber, thereby forming solid pellets of flavored ice cream or yogurt product. The frozen pellets are removed from the freezing chamber and packed for distribution and later consumption.
One problem encountered with the drip system is the production of pellets having different sizes. The non-uniform sized pellets detract from the appearance of the product. Additionally, the drip system also causes the pellets to drip at different times, thereby causing poor “belt loading.” Poor belt loading occurs when an insufficient quantity of pellets land in the cooling medium at any one time. Poor belt loading results in an inefficient use of the cooling medium, because more cooling medium will be required to freeze the same quantity of pellets.
There is, therefore, a need for methods and apparatus for the production of pellets for frozen foodstuff. There is also a need for methods and apparatus for producing frozen food pellets of uniform size.